Computer Aided Drafting or cad as its commonly called is simply that...using a computer and software to take the place of pencils, t-squares, triangles and compasses on a drawing table. A lot of people these days tend to think that cad and drafting are one and the same, but nothing could be farther from correct. They are two very distinct and separate skill sets that just happen to compliment each other nicely. You can be the best draftsman in the world and not know a thing about cad. By the same token you can know everything there is to know about a cad program, and not be able to produce a quality set of drawings someone could take to machine shop or building site and create whatever was drawn.
Sadly, most schools these days don't make drafting a prerequisite to cad. They figure you either already know it, or your employer will show you how to do it the "company way". So what happens is every couple of years, a whole flood of new "cad operators" hit the job market who may do a fine job of creating lines and circles and the stuff they teach in schools, but don't have a clue as to how to make a set of usable shop drawings.
There a number of different cad packages out there ranging in price from free to many thousands of dollars. No, the free ones aren't as good as the ones you pay for, but I will say that I think a lot of the top end packages are considerably overpriced. AutoCAD is probably the most well known and widely used cad package out there today and is the package I have the most experience with. Like all products, it has things it does very well, and some things that could use some improvement. It's also priced mid-range, coming in at $3995.00 MSRP for the basic package.
At any rate, I've been able to make a decent living doing this. It's interesting work, and the hours aren't bad either (usually). The drawings you find on these pages were done in my spare time just show folks what cad can do on the artistic side. Unlike an artist's painting however, these drawings are drawn to the exact size they would be in the real world, so with just a little more work I can convert these models into dimensioned drawings that could be used to build the kitchens or make the phone or whatever else winds up being on here. That the beauty of cad...you draw full scale, and you know as you create it whether its going to fit or not.
I hope you've enjoyed browsing my page and feel free to leave any comments or suggestions. You can do so by clicking the word "comments" below. If you would like to contact me about doing some cad work for you, post a note in the comments section with your contact info. I moderate all comments on this site, so that wil keep the spammers away from both our email addresses.
Have a good day!
